Concorde set to fly again at Bonhams in London: RAF Museum auction ready for take off

Corcorde drawings. Photo: Bonhams.

LONDON.- Original 1960s design drawing for the Concorde aircraft among more than 60 lots of aviation art and aeronautica at 29th April sale

An original design drawing for the Concorde aircraft will be among the lots on offer when Bonhams returns to the RAF Museum in Hendon for its annual sale on Monday 29th April. The 135cm x 76cm graphite on design paper technical sketch Definition Of Compartment Boundaries, Ventilation & Drainage, No D73.5050, dated 10th September 1968 and signed by test pilot Brian Trubshaw, is estimated to realise between £1,000 and £1,500.

When the Concorde prototype 001 first took to the skies in Toulouse on 2nd March 1969, it represented the achievement of the best part of a decade of collaboration between the British and French aircraft industries. The thousands of design drawings generated from that partnership were the last such to be produced entirely by human hand, without computerisation, for a leading aircraft project.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Corcordes final flight, on 24th October 2003. Among related lots on offer at the auction is the very front point of a Concorde nosecone, which is estimated to realise between £2,000 and £3,000.

The Bonhams auction of Collectors Motor Cars and Automobilia will feature some 61 lots of aviation art and aeronautica, including more than 20 original aviation paintings  the majority of which are offered at no reserve  a number of signed and limited-edition prints, and an aviation library.

Particular highlights include the oil-on-canvas Over Beachy Head by Michael Turner PFGAvA, which depicts two Hurricanes from 605 Squadron engaging a Junkers 88 over Beachy Head on 28th September 1940 during the Battle of Britain (estimate £6,000 - £7,000).

Meanwhile among the limited-edition prints is Operation Chastise (The Night They Breached The Dams), after Robert Taylor, signed by the artist and 12 Dambuster aircrew (estimate £200 - £300). The print, which is offered together with another by the same artist  Broken Silence, depicting de Havilland Mosquitoes and signed by the artist and three great wartime pilots  is offered for sale in the 70th anniversary year of the Dambusters, and depicts the attack on German dams carried out by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron from 16-17 May 1943.

Other lots of aeronautica on offer at the sale include an RAF sector clock (estimate £3,000 - £4,000), and a silver presentation plaque The London Aerodrome Trophy, presented to Cheridah de Beavoir Stocks as a souvenir of her flight on Ladies Day, 6th July 1912 (estimate £800 - £1,000). Mrs de Beavoir Stocks (1887-1971) was only the second British woman to gain a Royal Aero Club aviators licence, passing her test at Hendon in 1911 using a Farman biplane.

Toby Wilson, Head of the Bonhams Automobilia Department, said: I always look forward to selling aeronautica at the RAF Museum: it is the perfect location for a great day out for all aviation enthusiasts. This years sale has so many good aeronautica lots that it offers bidders a chance of owning a great souvenir of their day out.

Many of the aviation prints come from print runs that were sold out long ago, offering the collector an opportunity to fill a gap in their collection, as well as filling a space on their wall.

Please note: None of the lots among the Aviation Art & Aeronautica offered in this auction are from the collections of the RAF Museum.